Should I Say Goodbye?
by UsedToBeHuman
Summary: When Alex is forced to return to England after a series of tragic events, MI6 assigned him a new guardian- a very familiar SAS soldier. How can this guardian keep Alex safe when Alex hides his true identity?
1. Chapter 1

_**No one seems to see the colours in the rain**_

_**I guess nobody feels this way**_

_**The sky is dull, I fade away**_

_**Why do I feel so far from myself?**_

"Agent Rider?" the agent's expression was carefully blank.

"Give me five minutes," Alex responded.

"MI6 believes this to be extreme importance."

"Okay, three minutes." Alex opened the door further. He resisted the temptation to slam the door shut and barricade it.

"I'm Agent Amachi," the agent introduced. He spoke quietly with the slightest hint of an accent. The accent was hard to place. Australian perhaps? The ASIS had left him alone for a while, maybe they were trying to stir up trouble again.

"Can I see your ID?"

"Of course." Amachi carefully pulled his ID out from inside his coat. Despite the non-threatening body language, Alex tensed as the hand disappeared from sight.

"Agent Austin Amachi, born in April. You must be fond of the letter A. I'm Alex," he said with an easy smile. The ID seemed genuine. Amachi's threat level (_ones and zeros_) had been hovering at 70% but was now rapidly falling to 45%.

Amachi said something as Alex double checked his bags. "What was that?"

"There's a car out the front," Amachi repeated.

"I usually take the tube," Alex murmured, following the older agent.

"Not this time."

The office felt oddly claustrophobic. He felt like he wasn't quite here, he was stuck in all the other times he had been in here. He wanted to get out. He needed to get out. Get out of here get out of here get the fuck out.

"Alex?" the tone of voice is soft but empty. A false promise. "Alex, we need you to listen."

Alex Rider lifted his head slowly, fixing the deputy head of MI6 with cold eyes.

"We have found a new temporary guardian. We have not informed him of your position with MI6, all he knows is that you have previously been the target of an assassination attempt that meant you could no longer stay with your guardian."

He knows the best lies are the ones closest to the truth, but that doesn't stop him having to stuff his hands in his pockets to hide the trembling. His head was like a minefield of things he had tried to forget.

The tiny office was too small, too tight and there was only one exit. He had to get out, he had to run and run and get out-

The door opened and in walked a very familiar SAS soldier. Wolf. Alex's mind ran an automatic scan ("You aren't even human, you're a fucking robot."). Weapons? The positioning of the semi-formal shirt was too casual, too naturally crumpled around his waistline. A gun? Maybe, but he couldn't rule out a knife either. Threat? 60%. People do stupid things when they're startled. He leant back in his chair and fixed Wolf with a steady gaze.

"Wolf," Wolf grunted. There had been a moment where shock had flashed across his face. Stupid, if he was on a mission, that one moment would've blown his cover.

"Alex." Alex calmly turned back to Mrs Jones.

Mrs Jones index finger moved against the desk. Not quite an uncomfortable twitch, but still a tell. She was surprised by how easily Alex had slid his mask into place. It was strange, really. Why was she surprised? This was one of the reasons he had such a good track record.

"Wolf, I have already provided you with written information and I do not find repeating myself to be enjoyable. This is Alex," Mrs Jones said evenly.

Alex felt the strange urge to chuckle at the amount of forced politeness in the air.

"Wolf, may I have one last private word with you?"

"Yeah, okay." The SAS soldier gave Alex a once over before turning back to Mrs Jones.

Alex was flooded with emotions as he left the room. Relief, suspicion, apprehension and curiosity all crashed down on him at once. Who in their right mind would think that _Wolf _of all people could be the guardian of a sixteen-year-old?

After a few minutes, Wolf came out of the office. He was holding a file and looked slightly frustrated. What was in the file? Was that Alex's file? It would've been heavily edited of course, but still, that was his file. Was that really something he really wanted in Wolf's hands?

"Come on kid. Alex," Wolf muttered.

Alex gave a heavy sigh and forced his eyes to flash with annoyance.

"I'm not a kid," he grumbled, "I don't need a babysitter."

The mask was in place. He was just an average whining teen. He had to find out how much Wolf knew so he could adapt his cover story. Just like a mission. Alex hid a tiny smile as he bent over to pick up his bag. Just like a mission. Hide his true identity until this was over. If he could hide his identity, maybe he could keep Wolf safe.

Just like a mission.

**The next chapter will be up soon! I know the whole plot line with Alex going to live with Wolf has been done a few times (go check them out, Ask No Questions is a favourite of mine) I do write using British English, and no, you don't need to point that fact out to me. That's all from me, thanks for reading, I love all of you-**

**U**

**(Used to be Human)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning for some signs of PTSD showing up. **

"Your room is the first door on the left. Bathroom is across the hallway and my room is next to yours. I'll be gone from six until five so you'll be on your own for breakfast and lunch. I'll leave some money," Wolf explained.

Alex nodded. Simple enough.

"You can… uh, you can leave your stuff in your room. I have some people coming over. They don't know much about you." Wolf gave him a sideways glance that whispered '_neither do I_'. "My unit," he added, unnecessarily.

"Okay." Alex shrugged his bag off his shoulder.

He found the right room easily enough. It was a good size (not small and suffocating, not huge and exposing) and had a window to let in light (a possible escape route?). He put his bag down on the dark blue carpet, watching the dust rise from it. The room hadn't been inhabited for a while. That suited Alex just fine. The door had a lock. He clicked it once, twice, three times. The sound was oddly comforting. (Locks from the inside, not a cell)

Releasing a deep breath, he ran his hands through his hair before leaving the room (his room?) to find Wolf.

Wolf had mentioned guests. K-Unit? Most likely. He poked his head into the kitchen. No sign of Wolf. Sighing, continued his search. The living room, that's where he'd be. Watching TV? Possibly. The door could easily be right next to the TV, Wolf would see Alex before Alex saw him. Not a great option. Another door to the side? Alex shook his head. This wasn't important. Just walk in. (A trap?) Alex almost snarled in frustration, forcing his hand towards the doorknob. His hand closed around metal and he silenced the alarm bells going off in his brain. It didn't even make any sense, why would it be an ambush?

A loud sound rang through the flat.

Shit.

There was movement in the living room. Normal teenager, normal teenager, normal-

"Oh, Wolf, I was just about to answer the door," Alex straight-up lied. Through the small wave of panic, he had figured out what the sound was.

Wolf grunted and pushed past him.

"Sure, you can go get that. Don't mind me."

Wolf opened the door. Alex frowned at the lack of caution (stupid, reckless, going to get everyone killed).

"Snake," Wolf said not quite warmly, but close.

"Wolf," came the quiet, accented response.

Snake. The medic of the group and probably the least hostile towards Cub. Capable soldier. More introverted. Threat levels? Unknown. 20-60%? (ones and zeros). Out of the danger zone.

"This is Alex. He's... " Wolf frowned uncertainly. "I'm looking after him. MI6."

"I'm Snake," Snake said, studying him with a strangely intense gaze.

"Cool. So you're also with the SAS?" Alex asked, faking innocent curiosity.

"Yeah."

The tension in the room grew more noticeable.

"Why don't we-?" Wolf gestured towards the living room.

"I'm starving, you got any food?" Snake asked, following Wolf. Alex trailed along behind, picking the chair closest to the door.

Alex fought the urge to flinch. He doesn't know what it's like to be starving.

Shut up, It's just something people say.

The two soldiers were looking at him expectantly. He'd blanked out for part of their conversation without realising. Stupidstupidstupid.

"Sorry, what was that?" Alex asked. He allowed a tiny bit of the embarrassment he felt to paint itself across his cheeks.

"We're getting takeout," Wolf said slowly.

Alex wondered why that needed his input.

"Yeah?"

"What do you want?" Oh.

"Oh um, anything is fine." Alex gave a shrug. Normal teen, normal teen, normal teen. "Just make sure there's a lot of it, I'm starving-" (no you aren't) "-too."

Snake smiled at him in amusement as Wolf left the room to order. Snake pulled a book off the shelf and flipped to where there was a purple bookmark. Alex studied Snake's body language. Snake seemed quite at ease in his unit leader's home. They weren't just a unit, they were friends.

The doorbell rang, disturbing the content silence that came with books. Heavy footsteps stopped as Wolf opened the door. Automatically, Alex tensed.

Alex listened carefully to the conversation. It was more of a habit than something he did consciously. If Snake was already here...

"Can I use your bathroom?" came the voice of Eagle. Alex's shoulders relaxed.

Wolf grunted in response. There were footsteps and into the room walked Ben Daniels. Ben froze in the doorway

"Alex?"

Despite his surprise, Alex kept his expression smooth, a skill he had perfected.

"Hi." Alex gave a small wave. He pulled his legs up onto the chair so he was sitting cross-legged.

"Wait. How do know the kid, Fox?" Wolf frowned, walking past Ben and into the living room.

Ben's forehead creased.

"Wolf… don't you remember Cub?"

Wolf's eyes widened.

"Cub? You're… " Wolf stared at Alex before sinking into an armchair.

"You're Cub, of course, it makes sense. I thought I recognised you." Snake smiled.

Alex ducked his head apologetically.

"I wasn't sure if MI6 wanted you to know. You know, confidentiality and all." It isn't a lie it isn't a lie it isn't-

Fox sends him a confused blink but doesn't say anything.

"I think I broke your toilet." Eagle pushed past Ben and into the room. "Oh hey, you didn't tell me Cub would be here!"

Alex shifted in his seat, the only sign he showed of his discomfort. Why were Snake and Eagle acting so friendly towards him? Were they trying to get close to him?

Wolf fixed Alex with a glare. Internally, Alex rolled his eyes. Glaring was definitely a very 'Wolf' response. Unfortunately, that meant that Alex had no real indication of what Wolf was thinking. Before he could fully analyse the expression, the doorbell rang for the third time that night.

Wolf looked around at the others. Fox pulled out his phone and frowned like he had gotten an important text. Snake went back to his book. Eagle just grinned and stepped to the side, giving a vague hand wave. Wolf huffed loudly and stood up, heading out of the room.

Alex felt a slight pang of… something. He pushed it aside before it could consume him.

**Hey, it's your author here. My name is Jade by the way, so that's how I'll be signing off from now on. So sorry for such a long wait, I'll try to get the next chapter up quickly this time. Thanks for reading, it means a lot to me. **

**Jade**


End file.
